2014 – The Year In Review
The Board of Directors is very proud of the Coalition’s accomplishments during the past year and wanted to share some of our accomplishments with you. We believe in transparency and expect our activities to be public knowledge.
The items/events below are sorted by major categories.
Coalition Meetings Held
- During the year, we held 12 General Meetings for the members and guests. The meetings are open to the public and anyone is welcome.
- The Board of Directors has meet over 47 times, often to include invited guests such as prior City employees, elected City officials, law firms, accounting firms, informed citizens, and citizens from other cities with similar concerns.
- We held our first annual members’ barbeque and raffle. The food and drink was free, paid for by our sponsors.
Law Suits
1) We retained the attorney team of Art Cohen & Paul Cohen and filed a law suit against the City for the illegal transfer of Utility fees to the General fund in violation of State law. We are working with the attorney for the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW), which has filed a law suit similar to ours.
Several of the Directors have appeared at the court hearings to support the attorneys and the law suit. Now after several court hearings, we expect a trial date to be set for sometime later this year.
Justice is slow and the law suit is currently advancing through the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
2) Toward the end of the year we retained the law firm of AlvaradoSmith to file a law suit regarding the illegal creation of utility rates that violate State law. That law suit has just been filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. AlvaradoSmith won a similar law suit against the City Of San Juan Capistrano and feels confident our law suit will have the same outcome. The City of San Juan Capistrano had appealed the verdict in that case and has just lost the appeal. (For the press release, see our web site: www.glendalecacoalition.org)
Note: These law suits are costing the Coalition thousands of dollars and we are dependent on member dues, donations, and sponsors for funding. There are also people who have volunteered their time. We thank all those who have helped us.
Organizing Within The Coalition
1) The Coalition was incorporated under the laws of California as a 501c (4) corporation. By Laws and Articles of Incorporation were written, a Board of Directors was elected, operating officers were put into place, and our application for Non Profit status was approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
2) The Board of Directors is currently comprised of 4 Directors and a Chairman.
The Coalition’s officers are President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
Public Relations
1) The Coalition retained a very experienced Public Relations consultant to assist with getting our message out to the public.
The Coalition had a major media event to announce our first law suit and it was attended by more than a dozen television and print press reporters. As a result, the Directors had interviews broadcast on television and radio and articles written in the press.
2) A press release is currently being sent out to various news agencies announcing our second law suit.
3) The Directors have written, and had published, numerous letters to the local news paper and have had personal contact with the news paper’s local reporter.
4) During the year, we passed out close to 10,000 printed brochures explaining the Coalition and it’s purpose.
5) Also, during the year a information video was made explaining the Coalition and it’s purpose. It is posted on the Internet.
6) The Coalition maintains an informational web site on the Internet and solicits input from citizens.
7) The Chairman and Directors have made informational presentations to various home owners’ groups to explain our make up and purpose.
8) The Directors and members set up a booth, passing out brochures and talking to citizens at a major City event attended by thousands of people.
Liaisons
1) The Board of Directors hosted a well known forensic Certified Public Accounting firm at a meeting and discussed retaining them to assist with auditing the City’s financial records. Their assistance is pending at this time depending on how our law suit proceeds.
2) Guests at the Board of Directors meetings have included past City employees providing information on the City’s spending accounts and possible mismanagement of funds and equipment. The Board has also had City elected officials at private meetings and discussed City management.
3) The Directors have also been meeting with a forensic auditor/investigator who has been advising us on how accounting spread sheets are often deliberately written to mislead and to cover unethical accounting and funding.
4) The Directors have had meetings with citizens from other cities who have similar concerns. We have shared ways to accomplish our mutual goals, helping each other in our quest for better governments.
5) The Directors met with a business owner who feels he was mistreated in re-establishing his 16 year old business in Glendale. We offered assistance to him.
General Activities
1) During the last election period, we contacted each candidate for City Council and offered them the opportunity to be interviewed on video in a casual setting and have the interview posted on the Internet. Four out of the five candidates opted to be interviewed and were posted on the Coalition’s web site.
2) Leading up to the past election, the Directors attended numerous candidate forms and talked with the candidates.
Note: The Coalition as an organization did not endorse any City Council Candidate. The Directors and members were free to indorse/support any candidate of their choice.
3) Some of the Directors have spoken at City Council meetings on a variety of issues. Some of the Directors have also met with some City officials/management in private to discuss issues of concern to us.
4) The Coalition received a certificate of recognition from State Assemblyman Mike Gatto, 43rd district, for our commitment to enrich the Glendale community and enhance government operations.
===================================
Thank you for your continued support.
We welcome your input, questions and comments.
We look forward to seeing you at a General meeting.
General meetings are held the third Monday of each month in the evening.
Additional information can be found on our web site.
Contact Information
Web Site:
http://www.glendalecacoalition.org/
Mailing address
Glendale C.B.G
P.O. Box 10083
Glendale, CA. 91209-0083
Board of Directors:
Frank Gallo (Chairman)….Gallo@glendalecacoalition.org
Roland Kedikian……………Kedikian@glendalecacoalition.org
Ken Landon…………………Landon@glendalecacoalition.org
John Samuel……………….Samuel@glendalecacoalition.org
Harry Zavos………………..Zavos@glendalecacoalition.org
